Steve Nickson travels to see £50m winger with summer move in mind - Report
It looks like Newcastle United's Head of Recruitment Steve Nickson has been a busy man this week.
Paul Mitchell may be calling most of the shots now as our sporting director, but chief scout Nickson has an excellent recruitment record on Tyneside, helping bring the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak and Sven Botman to the club.
With a new right-winger still high on our agenda, whether that be for January or the summer, a new report has revealed a Premier League star Nickson went to watch in person this week.
Nickson travels to watch £50m winger
According to Lee Ryder at The Chronicle, Nickson was in attendance at Brentford’s Gtech Stadium to watch Bryan Mbeumo’s side draw 2-2 with Manchester City on Tuesday.
Ryder goes on to state that a £50m asking price has been slapped on the Cameroonian winger, although it seems clear that he's one for the summer and going nowhere in what remains of January.
Nickson travelling to see Mbeumo in person is a hopeful signal of intent ahead of this summer, when our PSR woes should be eased somewhat; especially if we opt to keep our powder dry this month and secure Champions League football.
Mbeumo didn’t contribute to either goal in Brentford’s late comeback as they continued their excellent home form against Pep Guardiola’s side, though he did contribute five key passes over the 90 minutes.
His ability isn’t in question with 16 Premier League goal contributions already this season - three of those coming the game prior against Southampton, and two against us when we went to London in December including an eighth minute opener.
Frank issues hands-off message...for now
Speaking after Brentford's 2-2 draw with Man City this week, Thomas Frank ruled out a January exit for the winger, saying: "No. So, very easy to answer that question!"
Frank, however, has previously accepted that he expects the winger to go at some stage and followed a similar approach when star man Ivan Toney looked to leave last year. Competition for Mbeumo’s signature will be tough with Arsenal also said to be interested.
At £50m it would be a battle worth having. The fee represents great value given the winger is in the early stages of his physical prime, a versatile two-footed forward as well as Premier League proven.
